Definition of "blubber"

Though their blubber is very thin, some of these whales will yield you upwards of thirty gallons of oil.

1851 November 14, Herman Melville, chapter XXXII, in Moby-Dick; or, The Whale, 1st American edition, New York, N.Y.: Harper & Brothers; London: Richard Bentley, page 155

It[Oil] was used to make kerosene, the main fuel for artificial lighting after overfishing led to a shortage of whale blubber.

2013 August 3, “Yesterday’s fuel”, in The Economist, volume 408, number 8847

Are you numbered among the employed yet? I read the unemployment figures and I shudder. You do not have any stored-up blubber to live on.

1977 April 23, M. M. B., “Letter From Home”, in Gay Community News, page 16

Still something had occurred to prevent the hunters from securing their rich booty, for huge piles of skins, with their adhering blubber, were scattered over the ice, and near one was planted firmly in the floe a boat-hook, with a small flag at the top.

1877, Charles W. Hall, chapter XVIII, in Adrift in the Ice-Fields‎, Boston: Lee and Shepard

They knew that the wall stood and the house was saved, and old Sam was blubbering over old Captain Joe Dickson lying spent almost to death on the veranda

1918, Mary E. Wilkins Freeman, The Outside of the House

But no more of this blubbering now, we are going a-whaling, and there is plenty of that yet to come.

1851 November 14, Herman Melville, chapter 2, in Moby-Dick; or, The Whale, 1st American edition, New York, N.Y.: Harper & Brothers; London: Richard Bentley

Dear Cloe, how blubbered is that pretty face!

1718, Matthew Prior, A Better Answer

[S]he hastily retired, taking with her her little girl, whose eyes were all over blubbered at the melancholy news she heard of Jones, who used to call her his little wife, and not only gave her many playthings, but spent whole hours in playing with her himself.

1749, Henry Fielding, The History of Tom Jones, a Foundling, volumes (please specify |volume=I to VI), London: A[ndrew] Millar, […]

It was really emotional. I am a blubber at the best of times. I had only been there for 18 months and found it upsetting so it was really hard for the people that had been there for 18 years.

2011 April 13, “Nikki Sanderson: from the Street to the stage”, in Evening Standard‎

As an auctioneer, you tend to come into people’s lives when they are going through an awful lot, and it is very difficult not to get emotionally involved. You feel responsible for helping them to achieve their goal, and that’s quite a weight to carry on your shoulders. I am a blubber at the best of times – it doesn’t take a lot to set me off!

2022 October 24, “The Repair Shop’s Will Kirk and Antiques Road Trip’s Christina Trevanion become The Travelling Auctioneers in idyllic new BBC One series”, in BBC‎